Perceptions of informal sanctioning and the stigma of involuntary childlessness

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2152159
AutoresCharlene E Miall (McMaster University, autor de correspondencia)
Año1985
Volumen6
Número4
Páginas383-403
Fecha de publicación1985-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaDeviant Behavior (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0163-9625 • E-ISSN: 1521-0456
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01639625.1985.9967686
OpenAlexW1976716918
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas38
Referencias citadas42

This study systematically examines the role of informal social response in the emergence of involuntary childlessness or infertility as a stigmatizing attribute. Seventy‐one involuntarily childless women provide detailed instances of perceived informal social sanctions related to their infertility. Subjects perceive that normals consider infertility to be caused by psychological or sexual malfunctioning, or by the woman in the dyad. Infertility is also seen by some to act as a master status. Subjects categorize other infertile individuals in terms of stigma and consider male infertility to be more stigmatizing than female infertility. Social sanctions and social control are shown to be relevant to an understanding of the experience of involuntary childlessness

Childlessness · Developmental psychology · Dyad · Environmental health · Family medicine · Fertility · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV · Infertility · Male infertility · Perception · Political science · Population · Pregnancy · Psychiatry · Sanctions · Social stigma · Stigma (botany · Child Welfare and Adoption · Clinical Psychology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Medicine · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Technologies · Social Psychology